Rompers.



A. L. JONES.

ROMPERS CATION FILED Auo,28.1916.

APPLI Patented Mar. 18, 1919.

m mm.

1 ED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OF DUB'UQUE, IOWA, ASSIGNOR TOJONES BBOS. OVERALL 60., OF DUBUQUEQIOWA, A CORPORATION'OF'IOWA.

BOMPERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 18, 1919..

Application fil ed August 28, 1916, Serial No. 117,124.

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be. it known that I, ALBERT LEE JONES, a citizen of the United States, residing. at Dubuque, in the county of Dubuque and State of Iowa, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Rompers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates in. general to childrens garments, and has more particular reference to an-outer garment commonly known as a romper or creeper,

One of the requisites of a garment of this character'designed for small children is. accessibility through the trousers portion of the garment to the diaper or other undergarment of the child for purposes of chang ing the same. I am aware that heretofore it has been proposed to button the lower portion of the garment betweenthe legs so that when these buttons are unbuttoned the trousers portion may be pulled upwardly on the childs body, thereby affording access to the I underlying garments. I have found, however, that in practice buttons at this point are not desirable for the reason that the buttons and button holes frequently become soiled when the garment is on the child and to unbutton these buttons and withdraw the garment .over the childs head or even over its feet is insanitary in its results.

One of the primary objects of my present invention is to provide a garment in which the lower portion of the trousers between the wearers legs will be entirely closed and devoid of buttons or other detachable fastening means, and also toprovide a garment in which the trousers portion may be readily opened up to permit access to' the diapers and if soiled can be detached from the body portion of the garment and wholly removed readily and easily and in a sanitary manner.

'Another object of my invention is to-provide a garment of this character which shall include sufiicient material between the leg openings of the trousers portion to accommodate the bulky diaper and other undergarments of the child without binding or;

cramping the child in or around the crotch and which will also when in use fold or draw upwardly toward the crotchbetween the legs of the wearer so as to provide separated leg portions which permit absolute freedom of movement of the wearers legs without binding or cramping at any point.

It should be understood that my present garment is designed for use as an outer garment, such as a creeper or romper, and fits loosely in and around the crotch and seat and extends substantially to the wearers knees, and this garment should not be confused with so-called diaper covers or diaper holders which are designed to be worn as;

an undergarment for the purpose of supporting and holding the diaper in place, these. diaper holders 01' covers being intended to fit snugly into the crotch and. around theseat and abdomen of the wearer.

For the purpose of facilitating an understanding of my invention, I have illustrated on the accompanying drawing one preferred embodiment thereof, and on which-.

Figure 1 illustrates a front elevation of a garment embodying my invention when laid 1 out flat, the front flap when unbuttoned and extended being shown in dotted lines; and

Fig. 2 is asimilar view showing the position that the garment assumes when applied to a child.

On the drawing, reference character .5 in-- dicates generally the upper or body portion of my improved garment which is adapted to be fastened in front at one side of the center by means of buttons and button holes 6 and is provided'with the usual neck -open-' ing 7 and sleeves 8. The waist band of the body portion is provided in the rear with one central button 9 and in. front with -a lurality-of buttons 11 to which the waist band 12 of the trousers portion is attached by means of correspondingly positioned buttonholes.

The trousers portion designated generally by reference character 18 is formed from a single piece of flat material cut so as to provide duplicate or correspondingly shaped front and back flaps. When the front flap is extended it assumes the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and when it is buttoned to'the body portion it exactly overlies the rear flap and assumes the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1. The side edges of the rear flap are preferably provided with a plurality of buttons and the side edges of the front flap areprovided with correspondingly positioned button-holes 15 adapted to be engaged with the buttons 14 for the purpose of detachably securing the edges of the front and back flaps together as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, thereby forming the trousers portion of the garment. 7

The material from which the trousers portion is formed is cut so as to provide leg openings 16 at the lower outer corners of the trousers portion, and it will be observed from Fig. 1 that the distance between the leg openings along the line 17 upon which the material is folded to produce the front and back flaps is considerably greater than the normal distance betweenthe legs of a wearer. This wide measurement between the leg openings provides an excess of material in and around the crotch and seat of the garment, and with a view of affording the desired. amount of material at these polnts the side edges of the flaps are flared outwardly from the waist to the leg openings, as will be apparent from an inspection of Fig. 1. Furthermore, it will be observed that the ,side edges of the trousers portion extending from-the waist band to the leg opening are of suflicient length to dispose the leg openingssubstantially at the wearers knees so that the garment affords all the covering and protection tothe legs com- 'monly afforded by rompers and creepers fullness of the garment afforded by the excess material between the leg openings permits it to fit loosely into and around the crotch and seat of the wearer so that it does not bind at any point, and consequently is extremely comfortable to the wearer.

WVhen it is desired to obtain access to the diaper or other undergarment of the child the front flap is unbuttoned along the waist line and along the sides'of the trousers portion and is laid down into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, thereby completely exposing the underlying diaper, Should the trousers portion have become soiled so that a change is necessary it can be unbuttoned from the side buttons 11 and rear button 9 and entirely removed in a sanitary manner and thereafter a clean trousers portion may be substitutedand buttoned into position without removing the body portion 5 from the wearer at all. y

It is believed that the construction and many of the advantageous features of my invention will be apparent from the foregoing without further description, but itshould be obvious that the exact construction dis-- closed may be varied within considerable limit, as for instance, in some garments it may be desirable to omit the buttons 14 and to sew or otherwise fasten the side edges of the front and rear flaps together, but in any event, it should be understood that my invention contemplates such variations as fall.

within the scope of the invention as defined by the following claim.

I claim:

Rompers, comprising an upper garment member or waist and a lower garment member including a pair of leg members terminating at their lower ends in knee openings, the length of the lower garment from top to bottom along the middle thereof being greater than the length along the outerits outer longitudinal side, fastenings for' the edges of the openings in the outer sides of the leg members, and other detachable fastenings between the upper and lower gar-- ment members along the tops of the front and back portions of the lower garment member.

ALBERT LEE JONES. 

